The total cost of rearing a heifer on Dutch dairy farms: calculated versus perceived cost.

BACKGROUND: As farmers do not often keep a record of the expenditures for rearing, an economic tool that provides insight into the cost of rearing is useful. In the Netherlands, an economic tool (Jonkos) has been developed that can be used by farmers to obtain insight into the cost of rearing on their farm. The first objective of this study is to calculate the total cost of rearing young stock in Dutch dairy herds using Jonkos. The second objective is to compare the calculated total cost of rearing with the farmers' own estimation of the cost of rearing (the perceived cost). FINDINGS: Information was available for 75 herds that reared their own young stock and who had used the Jonkos tool. The perceived cost of rearing young stock was only available for 36 herds. In the 75 herds, the average herd size was 100 dairy cows. The average calculated total cost of rearing a heifer was €1,790. The average perceived total cost of rearing a heifer (including labour and housing costs) was €1,030. CONCLUSION: Most Dutch farmers in the study underestimated the total cost of rearing. The Jonkos economic tool has the advantage that herd-specific information can be entered as input values. The output of the tool can improve the awareness of farmers about the total costs of rearing. This awareness can lead to a higher priority of young stock rearing and consequently to an improved quality of young stock rearing.

Distinct Mannheimia haemolytica serotypes isolated from fatal infections in veal calves and dairy cows.

Fatal Mannheimia haemolytica (M. haemolytica) infections in cattle, which emerged in the Netherlands between 2004 and 2018, showed two distinct disease presentations: acute fibrinous polyserositis (FPS) in veal calves, and acute fibrinous pleuro-pneumonia (FPP) in adult dairy cattle. To determine whether these presentations were caused by different M. haemolytica genotypes, whole genome sequencing was performed on 96 isolates cultured after necropsy from inflamed sites of veal calves that died of M. haemolytica-associated FPS (n = 49) or with FPP lesions (n = 2), and from dairy cows that died of M. haemolytica-associated FPP (n = 45). Among the 96 M. haemolytica isolates, 93 were shown to belong to either of two large clusters, with 48/51 calf isolates belonging to one, and 43/45 cow isolates and two calf isolates from cases of FPP to the other. All M. haemolytica isolates from veal calves with FPS were of serotype A2, whereas the isolates from dairy cows and two calves with FPP were predominantly of serotypes A1 and A6. Most serotype A2 isolates from veal calves with FPS (95.6 %) contained multiple antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) against three to five antimicrobial classes (phenicols, sulphonamides, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides or beta-lactams). In contrast, these ARGs were only present in 10.8 % of M. haemolytica A1 and A6 isolates from pneumonic adult cattle and absent in isolates from the two calves with FPP. These two disease presentations appear to be caused by genetically distinct strains with different antimicrobial resistance gene patterns. While M. haemolytica serotype A2 is generally considered to be a commensal microorganism of cattle, it was clearly associated with fatal FPS in veal calves in the Netherlands.